syntax unit 1 aos 2 Flashcards
what is syntax
the study of sentence structures
declarations
the most basic function of a sentence = make a statement
“she has been busy”
“the sleeves look good on her”
exclamatives
make exclamatory statements
starts with what or how
“what a beautiful day!”
“how he lies!”
imperatives
to issue directives
think - imperial emporer
“open the window”
“stop doing that”
interrogatives
to pose questions think - interrogation "wheres the ball?" "what u doin" "how are you?"
subjects
often found at the beginning of the sentence before the verb/verb phrase
“EMILY likes chocolate”
“SOME ELEPHANTS were chewing on the trees”
predicate
the verb and everything else with it
modifies the subject
“the walls WERE GREY”
“the film crew LEFT THE LOCATION FOR LUNCH”
objects
what did the subject VERB?
jade plays piano. what did jade play? PIANO
cassidy likes chocolate. what did cassidy like? CHOCOLATE
transitive verbs
must be used in a sentence with an object
“ella CARRIES water to class”
“molly THREW the ball”
intransitive verbs
do not need to be followed by an object if it can stand by itself, (i slept or i ran) chances are its intransitive "they jumped" "the dog ran" "she sang"
direct objects
are the person or thing involved in the action
indirect objects
are affected by the action but not directly involved
can only exist if there is a direct object
direct vs indirect hints
“Eliza gave her teacher a gift”
what did the subject verb? (a gift)
to what/whom was it verb-ed? (her teacher)
complements
Complements are needed to COMPLETE the meaning of an expression. Complements are NOT OPTIONAL; they are essential to ensure understanding. If you can’t remove it from a sentence, then it’s likely to be a complement.
(object is just a type of complement)
adverbial phrases
Consists of an adverb or words acting as adverbs within a sentence.
Adverbial phrases can be removed from a sentence without making the sentence grammatically wrong. Adverbial phrases are optional as they are usually just descriptive.
“in the morning”
“so slowly”
if adverbials are present you will find them by x6
asking how? when? where? which one? what time? how often?
phrase
missing a subject or a verb
noun phrase
includes the noun and the modifiers that distinguish it
“the girl”
“my friend jessica”
“a black cat”
adjectival phrase
group of words that function as an adjective
“fluffy grey”
“brightly coloured fuzzy red”
prepositional phrase
consist of a preposition and the object of the preposition and any other modifiers
“after school”
“on the table by the window in the kitchen”
verb phrase
the main verb plus any other related words such as auxiliaries complements or other modifiers
“was played”
simple sentence
one independent clause
compound sentence
two or more independent clauses
complex sentence
one independent clause and one or more dependent clause
compound-complex sentence
two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses
independent (or main) clause
can stand alone as a sentence, a simple sentence, can be split by a dependant clause
dependent (or subordinate) clause
- cannot stand alone
- an incomplete idea
- most of the time has subordinate conj at the start
ellipsis
omission of part of speech/writing because it is implied/obvious through context
fragment
grammatically unfinished set of words
